Need info on correspondence degree programs ?

Q. Does anyone have any knowledge of such programs or experience with them? Please name which ones. What is the course work like? Do they use textbooks, periodical articles, etc, as in traditional university programs, or do they use use their own workbooks or other "canned" materials? How much leaway do they give students in defining projects, electing course work? Can anyone elaborate on the value of the accreditation of these programs? If you were conducting interviews for a position in your organization for which an MBA would be a prerequisite or a plus, would you recognize value in an MBA from a correspondence program?

A. This is called "distance education" these days. One can even earn (traditional) doctorates in the field. Well, as with anything else, such schools are very much a mixed bag. Accreditation is a strange subject, with the important question being "accredited by whom?". States do not accredit schools, they merely (in places like CA) approved them to offer degrees, or (in places like LA) they don't care about non-traditional schools at all. Universities are accredited by regional accrediting agencies, such as WASC (Western Association of Schools and Colleges), and these are, in turn, looked after by the US Dept. of Education. Many non-traditional schools claim accreditation, but if it is not from one of the four major national accreditors (and a few accreditors who look after religious schools), the value of the degree will vary by who is looking at it. Grad programs, in general, won't take degrees from schools without regional accreditation. Accreditation claims are to be taken with several grains of salt in all cases. I notice that the schools with regional accreditation don't go on and on about how well accredited they are. I have knowledge of numerous such programs. I have experience with a few, all regionally accredited: University of Colorado, Western Illinois University, Brigham Young University, and Thomas Edison State College (in New Jersey). These all have excellent programs, but mostly concentrate on undergraduate degrees. For graduate programs there are many selections, too numerous to go into here. For undergraduate degrees, distance education is a very valid approach, and I would not hesitate to hire someone with such a degree (heck, I got one of my two undergrad degrees that way). In graduate programs, however, the considerations are different. Most employers would be slightly suspicious of such degrees at the graduate level, but many, many, such degrees have been accepted as equal to the traditional variety in non-academic fields. On the other hand, with the better programs the degree you receive is indistinguishable from any other degree issued by that institution. If you don't tell the employer it's a non-traditional degree, and the school is fully accredited, the employer will probably not discover this on their own. In my experience, most people in distance education are of the "finish up that college degree" variety. The majority are pursuing undergraduate programs, for advancement or career change. Graduate degrees are almost always in Business, and may or may not advance one's career. There are also a couple of journals for distance education, but I don't know the titles offhand. You might try this query in alt.education.distance.

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